Violent criminal who may be connected to H-Block murder arraigned on weapons charges after car crash

A gun-toting Dorchester man with a lengthy record was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bail today on his arraignment in Dorchester District Court today, following his arrest at the scene of a car crash on Devon Street in Dorchester last night, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Derrick Wood, 32, has yet to be charged with a fatal shooting around 11:30 p.m. on Harold Street at Harrishof Street, but his possible role in that crime remains under "active investigation," the DA's office says.

Officers on routine patrol had already started following a recklessly driven red car when they got a radio description that matched that car of a vehicle seen fleeing Harold Street. The car crashed on Devon Street. Both driver and Wood tried to run away, but cops managed to grab Wood - and found "a semiautomatic handgun and a loaded magazine" near the passenger side of the car, the DA's office reports.

Wood was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm as a second offense, unlawful possession of ammunition, unlawfully carrying a loaded firearm and trespassing. All carry potentially longer penalties than normal, because he was also charged as being a Leverl III armed career criminal, due to three prior convictions for distribution of cocaine and multiple assault convictions, the DA's office reports.

In 2009, Wood, in Brockton Superior Court to answer a probation violation, allegedly punched one Boston cop in the head and kicked another. They were there to testify against him.

According to the DA's office:

At about 11:30 last night, Boston Police officers in an unmarked cruiser spotted a red 1999 Toyota Solara speed through a red light near the intersection of Crawford Street and Humboldt Avenue. The officers began following the car and watched as it sped through a stop sign near the intersection of Crawford and Elm Hill Avenue well in excess of the speed limit. As the suspect vehicle turned onto Devon Street, the officers received a radio broadcast that a car matching its description may have been involved in a shooting a short time earlier.

At about this time, the officers activated their lights and the Toyota cut to the left, drove up onto the sidewalk, and passed a tow truck that had been slowing its progress. After failing to stop for two more stop signs and nearly striking a building on the corner of Blue Hill Avenue, the suspect vehicle collided with three parked cars and became wedged in the roadway.

Officers observed two men bail out of the Toyota. One, believed to be the driver, was a tall black male with short hair and a medium build in a white t-shirt and dark shorts. That man eluded officers and a K-9 unit brought in as part of the search. The second, believed to be the passenger and later identified as Wood, led police on a foot chase down a driveway to a fence abutting the rear of the Lilla G. Frederick Middle School, where he was taken into custody.

Innocent, etc.